KIRSTY McGee once sold all her possessions and hitchhiked to Cornwall to set about establishing herself as a solo singer-songwriter.

On Thursday, she makes her York debut at the Black Swan Folk Club, playing guitar and flute in the company of her partner, Mat Martin, on mandolin and high-strung guitar.

McGee first performed on the Manchester band scene at the age of 14 and then switched to the acoustic circuit. "I started off writing in the angry mode with lots of strumming guitars but I guess I moved away from that," she says. "I'm much better at the gentle rather than the hard stuff. It's another way of doing the same thing, just a very quiet way."

Last March, her second album was released by Park Records and launched at the 100 Club with a star line-up featuring producer Boo Hewerdine, Neil MacColl and John Spiers of Boden & Spiers. McGee's literate and contemporary folk songs on Frost prompted the Daily Mirror's reviewer to predict: "The British folk scene may yet unleash a young upstart who does a Jamie Cullum-like jump into the mainstream".

There is more to McGee than her music. She has been an active member of the road protest movement and took part in the demonstrations against the extension of Manchester Airport.

"It made a point that it isn't always necessary to destroy natural habitat," she says. "It was something that I felt very strongly about and it was very personal for me because the area where the runway was being built meant a lot to me. I was very upset when I heard the chainsaws coming in."

On Thursday, doors open at 8pm at the Black Swan Inn, Peasholme Green, York. Admission is £6, concessions £5.

Updated: 15:55 Thursday, January 13, 2005